Method and system for transmitting/receiving neighbor base-station advertisement message in broadband wireless access system

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatuses are provided for receiving neighbor BS information by a mobile station in a wireless communication system. The mobile station receives a neighbor BS information message. It is determined whether operator ID information identifying a network operator of a neighbor BS is not included in the neighbor BS information message. Operator information related to the neighbor BS is identified as operator information related to a serving BS, if it is determined that the operator ID information is not included in the neighbor BS information message.

PRIORITY

This application is a Continuation Application of U.S. Pat. No. 8,761,774, issued on Jun. 24, 2014, which is a Continuation Application of U.S. Pat. No. 8,280,380, issued on Oct. 2, 2012, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a) to Korean Application Serial No. 10-2004-0085915, which was filed in the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Oct. 26, 2004, the content of each of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method and system for transmitting/receiving messages in a wireless communication system, and more particularly to a method and system for transmitting/receiving neighbor base-station advertisement messages broadcast by a base station in a broadband wireless access (BWA) system.

2. Description of the Related Art

Fourth generation (4G) communication systems, which are the next generation communication systems, are being designed to provide users with services having various Qualities of Service (QoS) and supporting a transmission speed of about 100 Mbps. Particularly, in current 4G communication systems, research is being undertaken to support a high-speed service by ensuring mobility and QoS in broadband wireless access communication systems, such as a local area network (LAN) system and a metropolitan area network (MAN) system. A representative communication system currently being developed is known as an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.16 communication system.

Compared with conventional wireless technologies for providing voice services, the IEEE 802.16 communication system enables the transmission of data in a shorter period of time than needed if using conventional communication technologies, by providing a wider data bandwidth, and can efficiently use channels by sharing all user channels. In addition, the IEEE 802.16 communication system ensures QoS, so that users can receive services of different QoS depending on the characteristics of the services.

From among the IEEE 802.16 communication system, an IEEE 802.16a communication system does not take into consideration the mobility of a terminal, while an IEEE 802.16e communication system takes into consideration the mobility of a terminal (e.g., a mobile station).

Therefore, in the IEEE 802.16e communication system, a base station periodically broadcasts a MOB_NBR-ADV (mobile neighbor advertisement) message, which is information about neighbor base stations, to all mobile stations located in a corresponding cell in order to support the handover of the mobile stations, thereby notifying the mobile stations of neighbor base-station state information. That is, when a mobile station located in a cell moves into a neighbor cell, the mobile station can perform a handover because the mobile station already understands a neighbor cell's base-station information such as a network identifier and channel characteristics broadcast from the base station.

Table 1 below shows the format of a conventional MOB_NBR-ADV message used to report neighbor base station information from a base station to a mobile station. These message formats are generally known in the art, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted for the sake of clarity.

TABLE 1 Syntax Size Notes MOB_NBR-ADV_Message_Format( ) { Management Message Type = 53 8 bits Operator ID 24 bits  Unique ID assigned to the operator Configuration Charge Count 8 bits Incremented each time the information for the associated neighbor BS has changed. Fragmentation Index 4 bits This field indicates the current fragmentation index. Total Fragmentation 4 bits This field indicates the total number of fragmentations Skip-Optional-Fields Flag 1 bit  If set to ‘1’ and if a neighbor has OFDMA PHY the BS-ID for that neighbor is omitted in this message. If set to ‘0’, BS-ID is not omitted for any neighbor. N_NEIGHBORS 8 bits For (j=0; j<N_NEIGHBORS; j++){ Length 8 bits Length of message information within the iteration of N_NEIGHBOR in bytes. PHY Profile ID 8 bits Aggregated IDs of Co-located FA Indicator, FA Configuration Indicator, FFT size, Bandwidth, Operation Mode of the starting subchannelization of a frame, and Channel Number if (FA Index Indicator = = 1) { FA Index 8 bits This field, Frequency Assignment Index, is present only the FA Index Indicator in PHY Profile ID is set. Otherwise, the neighbor BS has the same FA Index or the center frequency is indicated using the TLV encoded information. } if (BS EIRP Indicator = = 1) { BS EIRP 8 bits Signed Integer from −128 to 127 in units of dBm This field is present only if the BS EIRP indicator is set in PHY Profile ID. Otherwise, the BS has the same EIRP as the serving BS. } Neighbor BS-ID 24 bits  This is an optional field for OFDMA PHY and it is omitted or skipped if Skip Optional Fields Flag = ‘1’ Preamble Index 8 bits The index for the PHY profile specific preamble. Preamble Index is PHY specific for SCa and OFDMA. The value of Preamble Index shall be ignored and a value of ‘0x00’ shall be used for OFDM PHY HO Process Optimization 8 bits HO Process Optimization is provided as part of this message is indicative only. HO process requirements may change at time of actual HO. For each Bit location, a value of ‘0’ indicates the associated reentry management messages shall be required, a value of ‘1’ indicates the reentry management message may be omitted. Regardless of the HO Process Optimization TLV settings, the Target BS may send unsolicited SBC-RSP and/or REG- RSP management messages Bit #0: Omit SBC-REQ/RSP management messages during current re-entry processing Bit #1: Omit PKM-REQ/RSP management message during current re-entry processing Bit #2: Omit REG-REQ/RSP management during current re-entry processing Bit #3: Omit Network Address Acquisition management messages during current reentry processing Bit #4: Omit Time of Day Acquisition management messages during current reentry processing Bit #5: Omit TFTP management messages during current re-entry processing Bit #6: Full service and operational state transfer or sharing between Serving BS and Target BS (ARQ, timers, counters, MAC state machines, etc . . . ) Scheduling Service Supported 4 bits Bitmap to indicate if BS supports a particular scheduling service. ‘1’ indicates support, ‘0’ indicates not support: bit 0: Unsolicited Grant Service (UGS) bit 1: Real-time Polling Service (rtPS) bit 2: Non- real-time Polling service (nrtPS) bit 3: Best Effort value of ‘1111’ indicates no information on service available Available Radio Resource 4 bits Percentage of reported average available subchannels and symbols resources per frame 0000: 0% 0001: 20% 0010: 40% 0011: 60% 0100: 80% 0101: 100% 0110-1110: reserved 0110-1110: reserved value of ‘1111’ indicates no information on service available Hand Off Neighbor Preference 2 bits 00 Normal 01 Preferred 10 Non- Preferred 11 Reserved DCD Configuration Change Count 4 bits This represents the Neighbor BS current DCD configuration change count UCD Configuration Change Count 4 bits This represents the Neighbor BS current UCD configuration change count TLV Encoded Neighbor information Variable TLV specific } }

The following Table 2 illustrates information included in a TLV Encoded Neighbor information field of the MOB_NBR-ADV message, which includes a downlink channel descriptor setting (DCD_settings) field and an uplink channel descriptor setting (UCD_settings) field.

TABLE 2 Type Length Name (1 byte) (1 byte) Value (Variable-length) DCD_settings Variable The DCD_settings is a compound TLV value that encapsulates a DCD message that may be transmitted in the advertised BS downlink channel. This information is intended to enable fast synchronization of the SS with the advertised BS downlink. The DCD settings fields shall contain only neighbor's DCD TLV values which are different from the Serving BS corresponding values. For values that are not included, the MSS shall assume they are identical to the serving BSs corresponding values. UCD_settings Variable The UCD_settings is a compound TLV value that encapsulates a UCD message that may be transmitted in the advertised BS downlink channel. This information is intended to enable fast synchronization of the SS with the advertised BS uplink. The UCD settings fields shall contain only neighbor's UCD TLV values which are different from the Serving BS's corresponding values. For values that are not included, the MSS shall assume they are identical to the serving BS's corresponding values.

The DCD_settings field in Table 2 is configured using the TLV value of a DCD message, which may be expressed in the format of Table 3. Such a DCD_settings field is generally known in the art, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted for the sake of clarity.

TABLE 3 Type Name (1 byte) Length Value (variable length) PHY scope Downlink_Burst_Profile 1 May appear more than once All (see 6.3.2.3.1). The length is the number of bytes in the overall object, including embedded TLV items BS EIRP 2 2 Signed in units of 1 dBM. All Frame duration 3 4 The number of PSs contained SC in a Burst FDD or TDD frame. Required only for framed downlinks PHY Type 4 1 The PHY Type to be used. SC Power adjustment rule 5 1 0 = Preserve Peak Power SC, SCa 1 = Preserve Mean Power Describes the power adjustment rule when performing a transition from one burst profile to another. Channel Nr 6 1 Downlink channel number as SCa, defined in 8.5. Used for OFDM, license-exempt operation OFDMA only. TTG 7 1 TTG (in PSs) SCa, OFDM, OFDMA RTG 8 1 RTG (in PSs) SCa, OFDM, OFDMA RSSIR, max 9 2 Initial Ranging Max. All Received Signal Strength at BS Signed in units of 1 dBm Channel Switch Frame 10 3 Channel switch frame SCa, Number number as defined in 6.3.15.7, OFDM, Used for license-exempt OFDMA operation only Frequency 12 4 Downlink center frequency All (kHz). BS ID 13 6 Base Station ID SCa, OFDM, OFDMA Frame Duration Code 14 1 The duration of the frame. OFDM The frame duration code values are specified in Table 230. Frame Number 15 3 The number of the frame OFDM containing the DCD message.

The conventional base station periodically broadcasts a MOB_NBR-ADV message including a TLV encoded neighbor information field as shown in Table 1 in order to notify a mobile station of neighbor base station information. Meanwhile, information related to a base station identifier (BS_ID) field included in the DCD_settings is an iteration of information related to neighbor base-station identifier (neighbor BS_ID) of the MOB_NBR-ADV message. That is, the BS_ID information of the DCD_settings can be recognized by using a neighbor BS_ID and an operator identifier of the MOB_NBR-ADV message. Therefore, the conventional system repeatedly transmits the TLV information of the MOB_NBR-ADV message corresponding to the number of neighbor base stations, and incurs a signaling load due to iterative transmission of the BS_ID of the DCD_settings field.

In addition, an operator identifier (ID) included in the MOB_NBR-ADV message in order to report information about a network operator as shown in Table 1 does not change while a mobile station is using the same network operator. Therefore, when operator ID information is included in every transmitted MOB_NBR-ADV message, overhead may increase, degrading transmission efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for transmitting/receiving a neighbor base-station advertisement message to be transmitted to a mobile station in a broadband wireless access system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for transmitting/receiving a neighbor base-station message in a broadband wireless access system, capable of omitting an operator ID, which must be transmitted whenever a neighbor base-station advertisement message is transmitted, according to necessity and reducing an overhead caused by iterative transmission of base station identifier information.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a method for is provided for receiving neighbor BS information by a mobile station in a wireless communication system. The mobile station receives a neighbor BS information message. It is determined whether operator ID information identifying a network operator of a neighbor BS is not included in the neighbor BS information message. Operator information related to the neighbor BS is identified as operator information related to a serving BS, if it is determined that the operator ID information is not included in the neighbor BS information message.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for transmitting neighbor BS information by a serving BS in a wireless communication system. A neighbor BS information message is generated that does not include operator ID information identifying a network operator of the neighbor BS, if operator information related to the neighbor BS is substantially identical to operator information related to the serving BS. The neighbor BS information message is transmitted to a mobile station.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus is provided in a mobile station for receiving neighbor BS information in a wireless communication system. The apparatus includes a receiver configured to receive a neighbor BS information message from a serving BS. The apparatus also includes a processor configured to determine whether operator ID information identifying a network operator of a neighbor BS is not included in the neighbor BS information message. Operator information related to the neighbor BS is identified as operator information related to a serving BS, if it is determined that the operator ID information is not included in the neighbor BS information message.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus is provided in a serving BS for transmitting neighbor BS information in a wireless communication system. The apparatus includes a processor configured to generate a neighbor BS information message that does not include operator ID information identifying a network operator of the neighbor BS, if operator information related to the neighbor BS is substantially identical to operator information related to the serving BS. The apparatus also includes a transmitter configured to transmit the neighbor BS information message to a mobile station.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of cells configured by base stations for supporting an IEEE 802.16e system according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a handover procedure of a mobile station in a mobile communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the embodiments of the present invention, a detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may obscure the subject matter of the present invention. It should be noted that the MOB_ADV message will hereinafter refer to the MOB_ADV message according to an embodiment of the present invention unless indicated otherwise.

The present invention proposes a method and system for minimizing the size of a neighbor base-station advertisement (MOB_NBR-ADV) message to be transmitted in a broadband wireless access system according to the present invention. In detail, the present invention proposes a method for omitting an operator identifier(ID) field of the MOB_NBR-ADV message, and a method for omitting a base station identifier (BS ID) of a downlink channel descriptor (DCD) setting field from among a type/length/value (TLV) encoded neighbor information field of the MOB_NBR-ADV message. The following description according to the present invention can be applied to the IEEE 802.16e system.

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of an IEEE 802.16e communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A mobile station 10 having received the service of a first base station (BS 1) 21 moves to the cell of a second base station (BS 2) 22 (as depicted by the arrow), which is a neighbor base station. In this case, the mobile station 10 must have information about the neighbor base station in advance in order to receive the service of the second base station 22 and not experience a service discontinuity.

The mobile station 10 can check neighbor base station's network operator information, base station information, scheduling information, available resource information, whether or not a message is fragmented, etc., by receiving and using the MOB_NBR-ADV message. The format of the MOB_NBR-ADV message according to the embodiment of the present invention is shown in Table 4 below.

TABLE 4 Syntax Size Notes MOB_NBR-ADV_Message_Format( ) { Management Message Type = 53 8 bits Operator ID Flag 1 bit  If set to ‘1’, Operator ID will be omitted Reserved 2 bits Configuration Change Count 8 bits Incremented each time the information for the associated neighbor BS has changed. Fragmentation Index 4 bits This field indicates the current fragmentation index. Total Fragmentation 4 bits This field indicates the total number of fragmentations Skip-Optional-Fields Flag 1 bit  If set to ‘1’ and if a neighbor has OFDMA PHY the BS-ID for that neighbor is omitted in this message. If set to ‘0’, BS-ID is not omitted for any neighbor. If ( Operator ID Flag == 0) Operator ID 24 bits  Unique ID assigned to the operator } N_NEIGHBORS 8 bits For (j=0; j<N_NEIGHBORS; j++){ Length 8 bits Length of message information within the iteration of N_NEIGHBOR in bytes. PHY Profile ID 8 bits Aggregated IDs of Co-located FA Indicator, FA Configuration Indicator, FFT size, Bandwidth, Operation Mode of the starting subchannelization of a frame, and Channel Number if (FA Index Indicator == 1) { FA Index 8 bits This field, Frequency Assignment Index, is present only the FA Index Indicator in PHY Profile ID is set. Otherwise, the neighbor BS has the same FA Index or the center frequency is indicated using the TLV encoded information. } if (BS EIRP Indicator == 1) { BS EIRP 8 bits Signed Integer from −128 to 127 in units of dBm This field is present only if the BS EIRP indicator is set in PHY Profile ID. Otherwise, the BS has the same EIRP as the serving BS. } Neighbor BS_ID 24 bits  This is an optional field for OFDMA PHY and it is omitted or skipped if Skip Optional Fields Flag = ‘1’ Preamble Index 8 bits The index for the PHY profile specific preamble. Preamble Index is PHY specific for SCa and OFDMA. The value of Preamble Index shall be ignored and a value of ‘0x00’ shall be used for OFDM PHY HO Process Optimization 8 bits HO Process Optimization is provided as part of this message is indicative only. HO process requirements may change at time of actual HO. For each Bit location, a value of ‘0’ indicates the associated reentry management messages shall be required, a value of ‘1’ indicates the reentry management message may be omitted. Regardless of the HO Process Optimization TLV settings, the Target BS may send unsolicited SBC-RSP and/or REG- RSP management messages Bit #0: Omit SBC-REQ/RSP management messages during current re-entry processing Bit #1: Omit PKM-REQ/RSP management message during current re-entry processing Bit #2: Omit REG-REQ/RSP management during current re-entry processing Bit #3: Omit Network Address Acquisition management messages during current reentry processing Bit #4: Omit Time of Day Acquisition management messages during current reentry processing Bit #5: Omit TFTP management messages during current re-entry processing Bit #6: Full service and operational state transfer or sharing between Serving BS and Target BS (ARQ, timers, counters, MAC state machines, etc . . . ) Scheduling Service Supported 4 bits Bitmap to indicate if BS supports a particular scheduling service. ‘1’ indicates support, ‘0’ indicates not support: bit 0: Unsolicited Grant Service (UGS) bit 1: Real-time Polling Service (rtPS) bit 2: Non- real-time Polling service (nrtPS) bit 3: Best Effort value of ‘1111’ indicates no information on service available Available Radio Resource 4 bits Percentage of reported average available subchannels and symbols resources per frame 0000: 0% 0001: 20% 0010: 40% 0011: 60% 0100: 80% 0101: 100% 0110-1110: reserved 0110-1110: reserved value of ‘1111’ indicates no information on service available Hand Off Neighbor Preference 2 bits 00: Normal; 01: Preferred 10: Non- Preferred; 11: Reserved DCD Configuration Change Count 4 bits This represents the Neighbor BS current DCD configuration change count UCD Configuration Change Count 4 bits This represents the Neighbor BS current UCD configuration change count TLV Encoded Neighbor information Variable TLV specific } }

The MOB_NBR-ADV message shown in Table 4 further includes a 2-bit reserved field in order to set the length of the conventional MOB_NBR-ADV message shown in Table 1 using byte units. In the MOB_NBR-ADV message according to the present invention, an operator ID flag field is newly defined. The operator ID flag field is used to report whether a MOB_NBR-ADV message includes an operator ID field. For example, when the operator ID flag field is set to “1”, it indicates that the MOB_NBR-ADV message dose not include an operator ID field. In contrast, when the operator ID flag field is set to “0”, the mobile station refers to an operator ID field.

Since the operator ID field contains information about a network operator, it is unnecessary to periodically update the operator ID field while a mobile station is using the same operator's network. Therefore, while a mobile station is continuously located in the same operator's network, the operator ID flag field is set to “1” and the operator ID field can be deleted. As a result, the total size of the MOB_NBR-ADV message can be reduced by 3 bytes.

Hereinafter, the other fields of the MOB_NBR-ADV message shown in Table 4 will be described.

The MOB_NBR-ADV message includes an 8-bit “Management Message Type=53” field; a “Configuration Change Count” field for representing whether a corresponding message changes, by increasing by “1” whenever configuration changes; a 4-bit “Fragmentation Index” field for representing an order of a currently transmitted message when the MOB_NBR-ADV message is fragmented and therefore transmitted using a plurality of message fragments a 4-bit “Total Fragmentation” field for representing the total number of fragmented messages; and a 1-bit “Skip-Operational-Flag” field. In addition, the MOB_NBR-ADV message includes a 24-bit “Operator ID” field when the Operator ID Flag field is set to “0”.

The other fields except for the above-mentioned fields in the Table 4 are related to the length, BS ID and handoff of neighbor base stations, which are generally known in the art, so a detailed description thereof will be omitted for the sake of clarity.

The operation for performing a handover of a mobile station by using the above-mentioned MOB_NBR-ADV message will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a handover procedure of a mobile station in a mobile communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In order to perform a handover, a mobile station 10 must receive information about a neighbor base station in advance of the handover procedure by receiving a MOB_NBR-ADV message from a first base station 21, from which the mobile station 10 is currently receiving service. Therefore, the first base station 21 communicating with the mobile station 10 transmits a MOB_NBR-ADV message according to an embodiment of the present invention as shown in Table 4 in order to reduce iterative transmission of the TLV information of a neighbor base-station message.

Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the mobile station 10 receives the MOB_NBR-ADV message from the first base station 21 in step 201.

In step 202, the mobile station 10 checks an Operator ID Flag field from among the MOB_NBR-ADV message received from the first base station 21. As a result of the determination, if Operator ID Flag field is set to “0”, the mobile station 10 updates the value of the operator ID in step 203, and then proceeds to step 204.

Alternatively, in step 202, if it is determined that the Operator ID Flag field is set to “1”, the mobile station 10 directly proceeds to step 204. In step 204, the mobile station 10 scans a base station 22, to which the mobile station 10 moves, and then performs a handover procedure in step 205.

Meanwhile, the MOB_NBR-ADV message set to reduce iterative transmission of the TLV information of a neighbor base-station message will be described with reference to Table 4.

The MOB_NBR-ADV message includes a 3-byte “Operator ID” field and a 3-byte “Neighbor BS_ID” field. Meanwhile, a 6-byte BS ID field included in the DCD_setting is created by combination of the 3-byte Operator ID and 3-byte Neighbor BS_ID. Therefore, when the MOB_NBR-ADV message includes the Operator ID and Neighbor BS_ID, the 6-byte BS ID field of the DCD_setting message can be omitted.

In the prior art, since the TLV information of the MOB_NBR-ADV message must be repeatedly transmitted by all neighbor base stations, overhead increases proportionately to the number of iterative transmissions of the 6-byte BS ID of the DCD_setting field. In this case, the BS ID field of the DCD_setting TLV has a size of 6 bytes and includes a type of 1 byte and a length of 1 byte, so that the total size for representing the BS ID becomes 8 bytes. However, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the BS ID field from among the format of the DCD_setting is omitted, thereby reducing overhead “R” as expressed in Equation 1 below. R=N×8 bytes  Equation 1

That is, when a base station broadcasts neighbor base-station information message for 10 neighbor base stations to a mobile station, an overhead of (N×8 bytes=10×8 bytes) 80 bytes can be reduced by omitting the BS ID field included in the DCD_setting message.

As described above, according to the present invention, when a base station transmits neighbor base station information messages to a mobile station in a broadband wireless access system, information either not required to be repeatedly transmitted for every message or iteratively transmitted is omitted, and an indication field (Operator ID Flag) for updating such information is added, so that it is possible to reduce overhead and improve a transmission efficiency.

While the present invention has been shown and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is not to be limited by the above embodiments but by the claims and the equivalents thereof. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for receiving neighbor base station (BS) information by a mobile station in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving, by the mobile station, a neighbor BS information message; determining that operator identifier (ID) information identifying a network operator of a neighbor BS is not included in the neighbor BS information message; and identifying operator information of the neighbor BS as operator information of a serving BS, in response to determining that the operator ID information is not included in the neighbor BS information message.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operator information of the neighbor BS includes the operator ID information of the neighbor BS.
 3. A method for transmitting neighbor base station (BS) information by a serving BS in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: identifying that a neighbor BS and the serving BS have a same network operator; generating a neighbor BS information message that does not include operator identifier (ID) information identifying the network operator of the neighbor BS, in response to identifying that the neighbor BS and the serving BS have the same network operator; and transmitting the neighbor BS information message to a mobile station.
 4. The method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising: transmitting a neighbor BS information message including the operator ID information of the neighbor BS, if the neighbor BS and the serving BS do not have the same network operator.
 5. An apparatus in a mobile station for receiving neighbor base station (BS) information in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising: a receiver configured to receive a neighbor BS information message from a serving BS; and a processor configured to determine that operator identifier (ID) information identifying a network operator of a neighbor BS is not included in the neighbor BS information message, and to identify operator information of the neighbor BS as operator information of a serving BS, in response to determining that the operator ID information is not included in the neighbor BS information message.
 6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein the operator information of the neighbor BS comprises the operator ID information of the neighbor BS.
 7. An apparatus in a serving base station (BS) for transmitting neighbor BS information in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising: a processor configured to: identify that a neighbor BS and the serving BS have a same network operator, and generate a neighbor BS information message that does not include operator identifier (ID) information identifying the network operator of the neighbor BS, in response to identifying that the neighbor BS and the serving BS have the same network operator; and a transmitter configured to transmit the neighbor BS information message to a mobile station.
 8. The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the processor is configured to generate a neighbor BS information message including the operator ID information of the neighbor BS, if the neighbor BS and the serving BS do not have the same network operator. 